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Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation

Mercenaries of democracy : The 'Politricks' of remobilized combatants in the 2007 general elections, Sierra Leone

Upphovspersoner: Christensen, Maya | Utas, Mats
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Urban Dynamics
År: 2008
Ämnesord: african-youth-league, wallacejohnson, ita
The 2007 general elections in Sierra Leone marked a decisive moment in the country's post-war recovery. In this article we show how political parties strategically remobilized ex-combatants into 'security squads' in order both to protect themselves and to mobilize votes. We look at the tactical and strategic motives behind ex-combatants' choice to join the political campaigning and the alternatives (such as 'watermelon politics'), and we also examine the deep distrust between politicians and ex-combatants. Focusing on politics as the domestication of violence, we shed light on the continuation of pre-war and war-time mobilization of youth into politics and demonstrate how electoral moments can legitimize violence. In hindsight, the 2007 elections strengthened the democratic process in Sierra Leone, but this article shows on what fragile ground this success was built.

Presidential elections in Sierra Leone

Upphovsperson: Utas, Mats
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Conflict, Displacement and Transformation | Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Urban Dynamics | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2007
Ämnesord: Sierra Leone, elections, political parties, democracy, Presidency, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
On August 11 Sierra Leone will vote democratically for the second timesince the end of the decade long civil war that raged between 1991 and 2002. Many international observers believe that this election is an important testfor democracy in Sierra Leone. Many Sierra Leoneans call democracy Demare-Crazy and politics politrix.

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